The Labour Party and Accusations of Anti-Semitism

Are accusations of anti-Semitism against the British left justified? Yes and no.

What makes Labour unique from other parties is the multiple instances of abuse its members have directed at Jewish people. However, unlike fringe far-right parties desperately trying to breach the mainstream, Labour has done little to refute this. Anti-Semitism on the far left is nothing new. Marx himself wrote in his 1844 essay On the Jewish question, ‘The bill of exchange is the real god of the Jew. His god is only an illusory bill of exchange.’ Here Marx presents the Jews as embodying the capitalist values he opposed. But has anti-Semitism really survived in the modern Labour Party? Sadly, yes.

Jeremy Corbyn, leader of the Labour Party, has made no secret of his friendship with the Islamo-Fascist groups Hamas and Hezbollah. One does not have to look far to notice the anti-Semitism present in these groups. In Hamas’s constitution, it references a quote supposedly from the prophet Mohammad, reading: ‘The time will not come until Muslims will fight the Jews (and kill them); until the Jews hide behind rocks and trees, which will cry: O Muslim! there is a Jew hiding behind me, come on and kill him!’ Hezbollah also urged Muslims to boycott the film Independence Day, warning that it portrayed a Jewish scientist saving the world and was, thus, Jewish propaganda. These facts alone clearly demonstrate anti-Semitism, but Mr. Corbyn does not seem to care.

In 2016, the former prime minister David Cameron pressed Mr. Corbyn to state that he is not friends with these groups during Prime Minister’s Questions. Mr. Corbyn easily stated that he was not friends with racists, but he repeatedly changed the subject when asked to disassociate himself from these particular anti-Semitic groups.

In 2012, The Observer highlighted the links between Nigel Farage, the former leader of the United Kingdom Independent Party (UKIP), and the Polish political figure Father Tadeusz Rydzyk, an outspoken anti-Semite and homophobe. This, quite rightly, provoked grave criticism, as Mr. Farage’s links with intolerant figures reflected on his own views. Therefore, Mr. Corbyn’s supporters who excuse Mr. Corbyn’s anti-Semitism, despite his links with anti-Semites, must also excuse Mr. Farage.